Rootstock Saga

Someday soon, your world will end. Ending is not as final as it sounds. Our world has ended before. When it does, be patient. Those of your time will linger and watch new cycles unfold. Some will walk this spinning blue rock again. A few will shape its destiny.Feel good fantasy for grownups. McCaffrey's mind-magic meets Martin's scheming and intrigue. Less grimdark. More magical realism. Even elves and dragons can evolve from the tropes. Nenes and kazera are more like us than not in this prelude to the Rootstock Saga, a sweeping tale of evolution and survival that asks, "What could you become, if becoming what you feared most were the only way to survive?"A master player convinces the pawn the move is its own. Nigel has been at the game longer than most, but lately the pawns keep turning into rogue knights. It's damned inconvenient of them, considering the world is about to end again.The Watchers will soon declare this cycle over, as they have so many cycles before, shrugging off yet another rise and fall of humankind, and giving the dragons another turn at dominion.Brynmohr is King of the Firstborn, and Twelvestones is the last bastion of a once-mighty nene dynasty. As the first people to walk the earth, the Firstborn consider it their birthright to rule over mankind. Half-breeds between their kinds are always sterile, but the daughters born of Brynmohr's irrational affection for a woman are defying the Patterns.Sethlyan and Isobel are unaware they're expendable pawns in an increasingly complex game. Seth is the second son of the Second of Aleron. He's tired of hearing rumors he and his friends are the prophesied Storm Hawks, destined to free Rhynn from centuries of oppression. He knows better. So does the Other, the voice only he can hear.Isobel survived the Beast of Monaughty. Her father is dead, but his brutality haunts her. When her brother, the Rhi'Iverach, forges an alliance with the Hawks of Aleron, Isobel finds herself promised to a stranger named Sethlyan.Her trust is hard to earn. His is hard to give.A deadly attack leaves them with a telepathic bond neither wants, and awakens mindgifts they struggle to accept. When rebellion brings Nigel and his charges to the precipice of war, they must choose between hiding their secrets or wielding their mindgifts, fighting their oppressors or sacrificing freedom for peace.Legend of the Storm Hawks is the introduction to the Rootstock Saga. The complete series of four novels will be released by July 2020. Set on a future Earth, our own history echoes from the shadows. In a tale of evolution and survival, adversity awakens magic. Science meets fantasy in the awakening of psychic and psionic abilities. Not a light read, it's serious fantasy for serious fantasy fans. Rich world-building. Memorable and relatable characters, none entirely good or evil. Complex relationship dynamics between friends, families, and lovers. Mature themes of bigotry, abuse, theocracy, gender roles, climate change, and temptations of power and privilege. Intricately interwoven plots converge in a long, rewarding end game."Epic fantasy with stunning world-building, dramatic characterization, a suspenseful and surprising plot, and a strong thread of fantastical elements." (Readers' Favorite)"A sweeping epic... satisfyingly well-detailed... realistic, involving, and thoroughly riveting." (D.Donovan, Midwest Book Review)